95.3 / 88.5 FM Grand Rapids and 95.3 FM Muskegon
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Beware of IRS back taxes phone scam

www.idigitaltimes.com

We’re about two months away from the filing deadline for tax returns. A warning from the Kent County Sheriff’s Department: Beware of an IRS fraud scam.  

This is not a new scam. Still, there are people who fall for it out of fear that the Internal Revenue Service is coming after you for back taxes.

It begins with a phone call and a warning from perpetrators posing as an IRS agent that back taxes are due and there’s a warrant for their arrest. The only way for the victim to avoid jail time is to pay up immediately using a pre-paid credit card purchased from a local store. And yes, the con artist provides a dollar amount and the phone number to call once the credit card is ready for payment.

The Kent County Sheriff Department tells us “the IRS do not ever conduct business in this manner.”

If you become a victim of this crime, contact your local law enforcement agency.

Patrick Center, WGVU News.

Patrick joined WGVU Public Media in December, 2008 after eight years of investigative reporting at Grand Rapids' WOOD-TV8 and three years at WYTV News Channel 33 in Youngstown, Ohio. As News and Public Affairs Director, Patrick manages our daily radio news operation and public interest television programming. An award-winning reporter, Patrick has won multiple Michigan Associated Press Best Reporter/Anchor awards and is a three-time Academy of Television Arts & Sciences EMMY Award winner with 14 nominations.